Donald Trump is currently visiting Brussels, home of NATO, where he is of course making an ass of himself in all the ways his worst critics expected. Donald Trump last year called Brussels a "hellhole," during one of his many, many, many orations explaining what was wrong with the entire rest of the planet and how they were dooming us all. His reception in Brussels is therefore also what you would expect.
As Trump touched down on Belgian soil, 9,000 demonstrators took to the streets to protest his trip.
The message was clear. "Get the hell out of our hole," one placard read. Another stated: "Mr. Trump, you are not welcome." [...]
"I don't want to waste my time thinking about Trump," said Philippe Dekeysery, who was flicking through CDs at a flea market. "It's all show and no substance. I'm sure after calling the city a hellhole he'll come here and say, 'it's fabulous.'"
Everyone has Trump's number now. They know who he is, and how he works. We should have Philippe here fly to Washington and explain a few things to the dullards in our Congress.
Meanwhile, let's check in with former president Barack Obama, who visited Berlin to have a nice public sit-down with German Chanceller Angela Merkel. It may perhaps have been orchestrated in small part just to give Trump another thing to freak out about during the wee long tweet-hours of the morning. He did not suck, and did not make an ass of himself, and the photographs of he, Merkel and the crowd of thousands of happy, smiling people could not be a starker difference from the visit of Captain Donald J. Bumblefudge.
[With] the rendezvous came a rhapsody of smiles and mutual affection.
"We can't hide behind a wall," Obama told the rapt audience, a none-too-subtle dig at his successor, in his first speaking appearance in Europe since he left office. The crowd lapped it up.
So when Angela Merkel meets with Trump later today, she will at least have had a pleasant morning. This is not likely to endear her at all to the great orange gasbag and whatever his latest demands are—presuming he can remember them. If anything, it's likely to make Trump's job tougher. I just met with a real leader, Merkel's face will say. What have you got?